


Penguin Men

by baeberiibungh



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: AU, Documentary Crew, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Penguins, Researcher Will, Scientist Hannibal, So many Penguins, Tags to be added, WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-01 22:47:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5223878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeberiibungh/pseuds/baeberiibungh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will was fascinated by this man who had just about forsaken not only his country and family but humanity too, gone to live among the penguins before their great white passes...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Will shivered in his thick fur coat, hands and legs somewhat restricted by the tight cuts of the fabric entombing him. The Quinpool was standing in the water, the ice breaker silent for the moment while the crew moved around disembarking for the fortnight. The documentary group would be returning after their 15 days are up and they were hoping to gather as much material they could within that short time frame. It would not do good to stay in Antarctica too long, the unceasing white of the snow clad ground were rumoured to drive any human raving mad. 

Any other human except Hannibal Lecter it seemed. The world came to know of him the first time when the ship which took him to the Antarctica came back and his family tried to file criminal charges against the captain of the ship as well all the mates present for murder. They insisted till they got blue in the face that Hannibal wasted to be left behind and in spite of repeated requests to board the ship to return, he had refused and had then somehow disappeared before they could forcibly make him do so. A manhunt was mounted, but they did not dare venture too far, the captain not wanting to put his own men in danger over an obstinate suicidal lunatic. 

Another ship which was nearby, while this controversy was going on, was asked to check to see if there was any sigh of the said man being still alive, as slim a chance of that happening was. Much to their astonishment, they found Lecter whole and hale, living in an igloo that he constructed himself and sustaining himself on fish that he caught from the ocean, with a random seal every now and then. They found him in the midst of an intense study of the emperor penguins and their migration habitats following their breeding habits. The implement he was using was rudimentary and vague at best, but the unbelievable amount of data that he managed to collect was beyond belief. 

This led the crew to make him the offer to take back his data with the promise of better machines and other things he might need in exchange. Hannibal handed them safely collected samples of ice crystals, calcified dirt and penguin leavings as well as a complete paper on what he had found. They went back, sent the things to the appropriate addressee and chaos broke loose in the research world. Hannibal made and in some cases proved some very important facts about how the emperor penguins lived and underwent during their breeding. Hannibal also sent a packet of equally brilliant write-ups on the divinity of penguins in religion and their perceived culture. 

His family tried to get him to come back to human habitat, he refused. He stayed and did his research and kept the world’s eye on the penguins as they marched on to and fro, accepting Hannibal as one of their own , seeing how some started to leave him gifts of half bitten fish after he killed one of the notorious and slyest leopard seal the penguins were having a problem over. It was truly fascinating and worth recording for the present and future academia as to how this one single man had managed to infiltrate the black coated animals and somehow managed to become one of their own.

Will, with his crew of scientist and workers, set out to see the Penguin Man at his corner, in his place while he went about his work, doing things that no one else had dared to do till now. His college granted him the necessary funds and they reached Antarctica without any huge mishap to learn as much as he and his fellow scientists could from Hannibal. They had radioed Hannibal prior to disembarking and so he was present there when they touched land. Will was swathed in thick furs, as were everybody else, the wild coldness of the place nipping at any exposed part to claim for its own.

Hannibal was dressed more sombrely. He had on furs too, but they swaddled him, swinging from his body in wide swaths and billowed a bit with each step he took. He had on a fur hat that was black and glistened wetly at the people. His voice was cultured, as if he had just finished giving a delectable lecture on his favourite subject to a studio. Will had seen his pictures from years ago, for now his features were rather obscured due to the ski mask like thing he was wearing over his face. His intelligent and twinkling eyes still shone through, that seemed almost amused at Will’s attempt to see everything as he kept on whipping his head from side to side rapidly. 

Hannibal took Will to his cabin, if it could be called that. It was a wooden structure, from the corners and side that was still visible under the huge amount of ice that had been slathered onto it from all sides. Inside it was just one room, with a small kitchen with a wooden stove fit only for the coffee pot that sat over it, a small refrigerator that worked double shift as the sample collection nook as well as the place where Hannibal kept his food. It was so cold out that anything kept out crystallised and the refrigerator was the only place to keep them edible. A small genny was placed near it, which provided electricity for three lights, two of which were placed over Hannibal’s workshop. 

The place was spartan, filled with bare essentials, and lots of paper. There sat a laptop on one of the table as well, looking odd for some reason as it had two speaker like things on its side. Will wondered if it even worked. They were on a schedule, so he decided to start with his filming as soon as he could, as they had reached in the morning. Not that it meant much. The sun would be out for the whole day – the benefit of living near one of the poles. Intending to set thing up as quickly as possible, Will turned to Hannibal to ask for specifics and had to take a pause when his eyes widened as the unmasked Hannibal who stood straight with a cutting smirk on his lips. Will silently breathed a small ‘oh’ to himself then.


	2. Chapter 2

Hannibal is... beautiful is not the word he is looking for. His face is arresting, bewitching, his eyes flames of ferocious intelligence and his lips, still tilting to the side in a smirk of unfunny proportions is delectable. Will licks his own lips in retaliation and sees Hannibal zoom on that. Will can actually envision the moment Hannibal made the captain of the boat that brought him here the first time, how he must have urged them to get so far away from their destination, to dock here and to get them to search for him afterwards. He is just that magnetic.

And isn’t it a wonder that such a man is hidden away in this ice held fortress, of his own making and happy to be here. Will cannot help feel his admiration for Hannibal get warmer. “Don’t you ever get lonely?” Will asks, a tad sadly and suddenly. Hannibal stares at him, smirk nowhere to be seen and says, “I like being alone.”

“I meant lonely, not whether you are okay being alone,” Will clarified in a lower voice.

“I will tell you later, perhaps when we are actual friends huh?” Hannibal replies back pleasantly. Will looks at him and can discern a hint of minty anger coming off him. Thinking it best not to visit the topic again in the near future, he waves his hand around the small room and says, “How on earth did you get people come and build this. The materials aside the labour must have been atrociously priced.”

“I built all of this myself,” Hannibal supplies before giving him a slight nod and heading out of the room. Will stared after him, watching his retreating back, when Beverly pokes her head in through the door and asks Will some question about the placement of the equipment. As plans go, they are hoping for half of shots of the emperor penguins in their natural habitats and other half of how Hannibal runs his laboratory and how he interacts with his subjects. They are also praying for some miracle shots with the other aquatic animals that may be found in that area. 

Will gives his directions and the cameras with the cold covers are brought over to do some opening shots of the Quinpool in water and Hannibal’s house as it stands, with lots of close-ups of innocuous things and wide shots of the icy shores and the wide expanse of the plains like areas grouped around by striking mountains that glitter in the sunlight. The sheer drops can be seen from far away, no means of getting there without better equipment and hearts of steel. This was a difficult place to live in, hence hardly any human habitation. Yet, Lecter made it his home and was now letting strangers into his home to capture the moments for posterity. 

Brian was setting out his sound equipments whereas Jimmy was looking around for locations for shooting with Beverly. Alana and Margot were given the work of sample collection and data transference, with their laptops being the datadump for the whole operation as everything was sent to the institute to be looked over by Jack in case some things needed to be reshot or recollected. It was a good system, that they had got going through their previous three documentaries. One of them even ended up in a list of the best documentaries of the year lists that can still be found online. It had been an express matter of pride for Brian and Zeller and both actually did a youtube video thanking the listers. Sadly, it got only 10 views.

The rest of the crew were post grad students who were there for their beck and call, keeping track of every piece of equipment and make sure that the members of the boat party were all accounted for at any given time. The boat crew were not members of the documentary team, but knew Hannibal as they had previously lugged luggage for him. So, it was a small community where everyone knew each other by face if not by name and everyone knew Hannibal. And Hannibal took to this social situation with alarming alacrity. 

Each day, he would haul in lots of fish to feed the masses, which had to be cooked over the gas tank fuelled grills on the ship and they in turn let him have some of their tinned and preserved stuff they had brought along. In the evenings when on a more warmer place, there might have been bonfires and drinking, everyone got together on the deck of the ship even Hannibal and listened to the radio for news and music. There was alcohol enough to get a sip or two, but never enough to get drunk on. Hannibal hardly ever drank, and when not in his cabin, apart from the meals, Hannibal would be with the penguins or off collecting data and the document team would follow him with the least amount of sound made. 

The penguins thankfully took the new members as non lethal on being there account of Hannibal and a few even made them offers of half digested fish parts and strangly weeds. Those made for fantastic data, to measure the acidic ration to food and assorted tests. They also made Zimmy squeal in delight over their antics while Beverly handled the camera. It was quite work and fun at times. And Will directed everything so that they could keep to their schedule. That did not stop him from looking at Hannibal every chance he got and be impressed by the man anew at every new revelation

Beverly took to teasing Will over Hannibal and Will would shove her while she cackled delightedly. Soon everyone was in the secret and Will found he could no longer see Hannibal silently as their whoops and teasing comments would make his face flame up and shy enough that he looked away from Hannibal entirely. None of that stopped either one of them from doing their work beautifully, but it was just that, what all being in the Antarctica and all, entertainment was hard to come by, and Will really did blush so beautifully, as Beverly explained to him one day, far away from Hannibal’s hearing.

Or so they assumed. And now that Will was not looking at Hannibal as much, he kept missing how much Hannibal would look at him. Beverly caught on quickly and could only give a big sigh at the antics of the two.

**Author's Note:**

> This is highly inaccurate, so it would be best to just imagine it in some alternate univ where this would be possible. Please let me know what you think so far. Thank you for reading and please, do give your comments and kudos, seriously, they are important.


End file.
